Home • Links • LTC/Course • Events • Archives • Politics

No Maas grows at KCI

Reports that airport police failed to toss former Chiefs star Bill Maas in the slammer for attempting to carry a 9mm Glock onto a plane at KCI and allowed him to continue on his merry way struck some Cowtowners as outrageous.

However, if they understood the law, they’d know where airport police are coming from, says Al Lomax, chief of airport police. Maas was detained by police and his gun was confiscated.

“In order for a person to be charged, there has to be intent or artful concealment,” Lomax says. “Or if the individual is a convicted felon or he’s been convicted for using a weapon in a crime.”

Following Missouri law, Maas met none of those criteria.

Hey, airport cops are not fools.

Maas contended he accidentally grabbed the wrong bag with the gun in it.

“We do have people come through and do that,” Lomax says. “There’s no way you can prove that’s not true, but it’s somewhat hard to imagine a person would not be aware of what’s in their suitcase. It’s tough to swallow, but really there’s not a lot you can do. And, really, it’s not up to us to determine whether to charge him. It’s up to prosecutors.”

There’s a hierarchy, though.

“The federal government has the first shot,” he says. “If they don’t charge him, then it’s the county. We then have the discretion of charging a violation of a city ordinance on possession of a firearm, which is a misdemeanor.”

Platte County has said it will not prosecute Maas, and Lomax has not heard back yet from the FBI.

The main point Lomax wants to emphasize: Maas did not get special treatment.

“What has been implied is that we made an exception because he was Bill Maas and because he was a Caucasian,” Lomax says. “But I take exception to that — the officers did what they were supposed to do. The bottom line is this: There’s nothing in the (Missouri) statute that says a person can pass through the state with an explosive device — that’s just plain wrong. But there is a state law that a person can peacefully pass through the state with a gun. And there’s the right to carry, if a person has a permit to carry a gun. But they don’t have the right to carry a weapon into an area where it is posted that no weapons are allowed, such as an airport.”

Copyright © 1997-2006 Western Missouri Shooters Alliance. All rights reserved, but all you have to do is ask. 
In accordance with Title 17 Section 107 of the United States Code, all material contained herein is distributed,  
not for profit, for educational purposes, and for other fair use purposes including, but not limited to, criticism, 
comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship or research.